PM stands by decision to go to war against Iraq

Prime Minister John Howard said today he would make the same decision to join the war on Iraq if he had his time over again.

Mr Howard said he had no apologies to make after the parliamentary report which found Australia's key intelligence agencies had doubts about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.

He said the case for war was based on Iraq's non-compliance with United Nations resolutions on weapons of mass destruction, as well as the importance of the alliance between Australia and the United States.

"I have no apologies to make for our decision. If I had my time over again, I would have taken the same decision," Mr Howard told reporters.

"Our case was based on non-compliance with UN resolutions, and the WMD issue.

"But as you read my principal addresses ... I also placed very heavy reliance on the importance of the American alliance.

"I'm not saying that was number one, I'm not asserting that.

"But it seems to have been forgotten that it was a significant element and something I referred to in all the major addresses I made."

Mr Howard said he could justify why his pre-war comments went further than the intelligence agencies the Office of National Assessments (ONA) and the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO).

"There was no serious argument from anybody, including the opposition, about the possession of WMD (weapons of mass destruction). The debate was about how you dealt with that possession," he said.

"In the end, the decision to go to war is an executive decision.

"It is not a decision to be taken by an intelligence agency, or by an Office of National Assessments.

"Now, I was satisfied that there was enough evidence of possession of WMD from all of the material coming to me, to justify the decision.

"In the end, we had to make a judgment."

Mr Howard said if the world had waited for evidence that could stand up in court, it would have been too late to act.